Mayor Jenny Durkan held another press conference on Tuesday to criticize Seattle City Council and their efforts to defund police by 50% and reallocate funding to community-led public health and safety. The Mayor, and Police Chief Carmen Best argued that any police officer layoffs whatsoever would be ill-advised and basically impossible.
Council President M. Lorena González responded with sharp words of her own during budget committee today.
“The mayor is spreading misinformation and fear… to undermine our collective efforts on the council,” González said. “She’s hoping efforts to defund and demilitarize the police will blow over.”
Cyclical Arguments
While we’ve all been through this back-and-forth before and it’s beginning to feel like a cyclical argument, I’ll summarize the case once more before moving to possible ways out of this policy deadlock. Options include removing Mayor Durkan and replacing her with a pro-defund mayor, laying off all officers and forcing them to reapply for their jobs, blocking a police contract unless it includes the ability to fire officers with documented excessive force and misconduct, or all of the above.
The Seattle Police Department (SPD) has about 1,400 sworn officers and an approved budget of $409 million before the rebalancing package–nearly 30% of the City’s general fund. A grassroots campaign led by coalitions such as Decriminalize Seattle and King County Equity Now has pressed for a 50% cut to that budget as soon as possible and seven of nine Seattle City Councilmembers have signed on. Only Alex Pedersen and Debora Juarez have refused to sign.
Protesters have been in the streets every day since George Floyd was murdered, and supporters have dominated public comment during budget hearings. This sustained public pressure is unprecedented in recent history and it appears to be over the public in Seattle.
Despite the Mayor’s efforts to brand the effort a fringe movement of radicals, recent polling has suggested a majority of Seattle voters support defunding SPD and shifting resources toward community-led health and safety. An EMC Research poll found the margin was 53% support to 45% opposition toward the proposal to “permanently cut the Seattle Police Department’s budget by 50% and shift that money to social services and community-based programs.”
Facing that pressure, the Mayor and Chief say SPD is doing such a great job that it’s widely cited as a national leader. They argue proposed funding cuts would undermine reform initiatives they portray as successful and cite racial bias training as an example–notwithstanding no data to support their efficacy of that training. Despite more than two months of violent police clashes with protesters with videos showing clear evidence of excessive police force, the Mayor and Chief have revealed no disciplinary measures against officers. They’ve only said that investigations are ongoing and the Office of Police Accountability is working on it.
